The National Coalition for Workplace Savings has been launched to increase the number of working-age adults with accessible savings.
The coalition is aimed at helping those with between £1,000 and £2,000 for unexpected expenses and comes as research suggests that many UK workers have little financial buffer, with one in 10 having no savings at all and a further 20 per cent holding less than £1,000.
Serve and Protect Credit Union has announced its support for the initiative. The credit union, which serves people working in the police, prison, probation, military, fire and health services, said employers have an important role to play in helping employees develop regular saving habits.
The coalition’s objectives align with the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, which highlighted Serve and Protect’s work with the Ministry of Defence as an example of efforts to improve financial wellbeing.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Blake says: “Everyone should have the opportunity to build financial resilience, but we know that when household budgets are stretched, saving can be difficult. The Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy creates more opportunities for people to save through workplace savings schemes.
“Working with employers across sectors, this coalition will help make workplace savings schemes easier to access and support more working people to build regular savings habits and a financial safety net. I strongly encourage employers to get behind this scheme today.
“Our mission has long since been to ‘make every payslip count’ for those who serve and protect the nation,” said Paul Norgove, CEO at Serve and Protect. “Aligning with the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy through the National Coalition for Workplace Savings further scales the credit union’s impact. The more employers we can encourage to implement workplace savings, the more effectively we can invest in the long-term stability and resilience of the nation’s workforce.”